Indian Trademark Statistics for February (Fourth Week), Zumba for Fitness, GST on Brands and Logos Too?, Lifebuoy Trademark Victory, ITC Wins GI Infringement Case and more, brought to you by the Trademark Attorneys at BananaIP (BIP) Counsels.

TRADEMARK QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“A brand’s job is to create a customer that creates and inspires other customers” – Think Marketing

INDIAN TRADEMARK STATISTICS

In the last week, the Indian Trademark Office has had a mixed week. The total number of registrations granted has increased by twenty eight percent (28 %). Similarly, the total number of hearing notices issued has increased by fourteen percent (14 %). However, the trademark applications examined has decreased by fourteen percent (14 %).

Weekly Indian Trademark Statistics

Particulars

Last Week

This Week

Change in %

Total Trademark Applications Examined by Trademark Office

9425

8068

A decrease of 14%

Total Applications Disposed through Show Cause Hearings

7580

7606

An increase of .3%

Total Applications Published in the Trademark Journal

9208

9328

An increase of 1%

Total Registrations Granted

7239

9239

An increase of 28%

Total Hearing Notices Issued

8960

10210

An increase of 14%

Total Renewals Notices Issued

2386

2190

A decrease of 8%

Trademark Statistics by Office

Total Number of New Applications Received from February 20th, 2019 to February 27th, 2019

Sr. No

Jurisdiction

New Applications

Examined

Published

Registered

1

AHMEDABAD

947

546

849

988

2

CHENNAI

1497

662

1820

1705

3

DELHI

2647

1320

2823

3039

4

KOLKATA

364

229

502

583

5

MUMBAI

1620

896

2356

2550

Total

7075

3653

8350

8865

Yearly Trademark Statistics

Trademark Statistics from January 01st, 2019 to February 27th, 2019

Total Number of Trademark Applications Filed – 55236

Total Number of Trademark Applications Examined – 29741

Total Number of Trademark Applications Published – 54612

Total Number of Trademark Applications Registered – 44242

INTERESTING BRAND NEWS

Zumba for Fitness

Zumba, the popular and fun aerobic workout, even though invented by Colombian dancer and choreographer Alberto Beto Perez, the trademark for the name is owned by Zumba Fitness, LLC. The mark has been granted registration in 2009 in a number of classes which includes providing fitness programmes, clothing, jewellery, accessories amongst others.

INDIAN TRADEMARK UPDATES

LIFEBUOY Trademark Victory

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) filed for a permanent injunction to restrain Utkarsh Somani from using the trademarks “LIKEBOY” and “LOVEBOY” for selling and distributing soaps which are deceptively similar to HUL’s registered trademark LIFEBUOY and also bearing similar trade design, color scheme and packaging labels. The Calcutta High Court was, prima facie, satisfied that products sold by Utkarsh are infringing HUL’s trademark and trade dress. The Court, therefore, passed an interim injunction in favour of HUL. The Court further, has appointed a Special Officer to visit the go-down and outlet of Utkarsh and to seize the infringing goods.

GST on Brands and Logos too?

Indian conglomerates that use common brand name/trademark/logo across their subsidiaries will likely have to pay Goods and Service Tax (GST) on the speculative value of these brands. This didn’t attract GST previously as there were no regulations that dealt with free supply of services between related parties such as parent and subsidiaries. However, now Tax Department wants to discover the exact valuation of these brands and logos, calculate the fee paid by subsidiaries to their parent company, and levy a 18% GST on that amount. No official notices have been issued yet for this matter.

INTERNATIONAL TRADEMARK UPDATES

Samsung in Trouble over Smartwatches

The Swatch Group AG, a Swiss manufacturer of watches and jewellery, has filed a complaint against the South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics and Samsung Electronics America for trademark infringement. Swatch while filing the complaint in the Southern District of New York, has claimed that the watch faces on the Samsung smartwatches are identical/similar to the trademark owned by them, which is likely to confuse the consumers. The Swiss company is alleging unfair competition and unfair business practices. Samsung is yet to respond to the same.

Public May Not be Public Anymore: Theatre Sues Hotel Tycoon for Trademark Infringement

The Public Theatre, a theatre situated in New York, USA has filed a trademark infringement suit against Ian Schrager, owner of the hotel Public, based in New York, over the use of the term ‘Public’ along with a similar logo for entertainment events. The theatre has claimed in the lawsuit that the use of the trademark ‘Public’ in association with conducting musical and theatre events is likely to cause confusion amongst the consumers as to the source of origin. The lawsuit has been filed after a number of cease and desist notices being issued to the hotel in 2017, but infringement had continued. The hotel has yet to reply to the suit.

BRAND LICENSING UPDATES

‘Purple Turtle’ Licensing Program in India

Animation International (AI) India, a major in the licensing industry across Asia has entered into an agreement with Purple Turtle, a leading international educational brand having a presence in 30 countries, to bring a wide array of merchandizing products in India. AI India, being a pioneer in India has previously launched the licensing programmes for Hello Kitty, Marvel, WWE and many iconic brands over the last 14 years.

GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION UPDATES

ITC Wins GI Infringement Case

The Calcutta High Court recently dismissed a nine year old appeal filed by the Tea Board of India against the usage of the mark ‘Darjeeling Lounge’ for an executive lounge at a five star hotel run by Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) in Calcutta. The Board claimed that use of ‘Darjeeling’ by ITC will amount to infringement of GI rights of ‘Darjeeling Tea’ held by the Tea Board of India. The Court held that rights of GI can only be enforced with respect to goods and not services as in the present case, and since the impugned use of the name is not in relation to any goods the Court dismissed the appeal.

BANANAIP TIP OF THE WEEK

If the shape of a product, its packaging and combination of colors is similar to that of your products, this would be considered passing off and trademark infringement as it has the propensity to confuse consumers about the product’s origin.

Author: BIP Trademark Attorneys

Led by Sanjeeth Hegde, BIP’s Trademark Attorneys are among the leading experts in the field. They work on trademark filing, prosecution, management, licensing, franchising, merchandizing, litigation, and strategy for clients such as PEPS, Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, Essilor, Samsung and the IITs.

The weekly trademark news initiative is a part of their pro bono work and is aimed at spreading trademark awareness. You are free to share the news with appropriate attribution and backlink to the source.

If you have any questions, you may write to BIP’s Trademark Attorneys at [email protected]